My Favourite Disney.

Well at least traditional animation that has nothing to do the great Pixar.

I know you are all going "Lilo and Stitch"? REALLY? And probably thinking I have no taste.

Well you are wrong. Sure the film has some flaws, especially with the space invaders ending that seems so out of whack with the rest of the story, but what it more than makes up for it with is heart.

Directed by the out and proud gay man Dean Deblois with directing partner Chris Sanders this is a Disney film unlike any other I have ever seen. It is the only one that has made me openly sob as an adult, even after watching it the 10th time this weekend.

The premise is Stitch, a wicked creature condemned to die, escapes from his faraway planet and lands in a Hawaiian village, where he's adopted as a pet by Lilo, a misunderstood and quirky orphan (featuring the best voice work I have heard in some time by twelve year old Daveigh Chase).
Together they run amok, pursued by Lilo's exasperated older sister Nani, and by a pair of bumbling aliens sent to earth to capture the fugitive. It all sounds like typical disney fare, but it is far from this.

At the heart this is a story of a lonely child and her extraterrestrial friend yearning for a nuclear family. You know Nani and Lilo are alone. Lilo lashes out at her school friends and is an outcast because as Nani (an wonderful performance by Tia Carrere) says:

"They just don't know what to say".

After seeing a shooting star Lilo wishes for a friend, and angel to come. It is these quiet moments that you realise this is probably the most realistic portrayal of a child struggling with the death of her family that you will see.

If you put it on paper, this Hawaii based story it sounds like the latest Oscar bait independent drama: "After the death of their parents Nani must prove to child services that she is capable of being a guardian to her young sister Lilo who is having trouble dealing with her grief. The addition of a new pet makes matters worse and Nani struggles to keep her small broken family together".

It was this story that captured my heart so much. The truth the writers found in this small family unit is astonishing. The two sisters screaming at each other and each going into their bedrooms to scream into a pillow are both extremely funny and so true. The relationship between the sisters is not only complex but oh so true. Nani is not prepared for having to be the care giver, and constantly resorts to making decisions based on sisterly fun rather than adult responsibility.


The death of the parents is treating extremely unsentimentally for a Disney film. You only see a picture of the family all together, and the death is explained heartbreakingly simply to Stitch by Lilo:

"It was raining, and they went for a drive. What happened to yours? I hear you cry at night. Do you dream about them? I know that's why you wreck things, and push me."

Of course at the end of this film, Stitch begins to yearn for a family of his own and realizes he needs to make his own. He is an outcast that i feared, but have found acceptance in an unlikely place (this could so be a thinly disguised gay acceptance movie, especially considering that the two aliens sent after stitch have to find earth disguises and one picks up some wigs and becomes addicted with the way he feels as a woman. So much so when is partner tried to try on his wig he screams "You're just jealous because I'm pretty!!" Thank you Mr. Deblois!!!)

The moment in the film where I loose my shit and start blubbing is at the end when Stitch is being sent back and he has to explain to the aliens who Lilo and Nani are with his broken English:

"This is my family......I found it, all on my own. Is little, and broken, but still good.... Yeah......still good."

Jesus tears.....STOP!!!

So there I wanted to share my favourite Disney animated film to you. It also features one of the best disney songs I have heard in forever. If you haven't seen it, give it a go.
For extra fun see how many previous disney film references you can find in it.

For a fun Poll....What is your favourite traditionally drawn Disney animated film of the last 10 years?